5. Asa

CHAPTER 5

ASA

Either the matchmaker is a genius, or I finally made it to heaven and this woman is my prize. Because g oddamn . The way water sluices over her body, rinsing away suds, is definitely one of the natural wonders of the world. And I have a front-row seat.

I’m also naked and hard as a fucking rock.

Believe me, this isn’t a problem I’m complaining about. It’s an opportunity I’m thanking my lucky stars for putting in front of me.

“What are you doing?” she asks, a breathless hitch in her voice as I drop to my knees in front of her as soon as the last sud slides down her legs.

“Working on getting you dirty again.” I wrap my hand around her waist, gently hauling her across the shower toward me. As soon as she’s in front of me, that perfect pussy at eye level, I run my hand down her leg, drawing it up over my shoulder.

Her lower lips part, her swollen clit peeping out at me. Fuck. Her pussy is perfect. Pink. Wet. Juicy. Ready to be sucked and fucked and worshipped.

I run my tongue up the inside of her thigh as she slides her hands into my hair, whimpering my name. Her whimpers grow louder when I flick the tip of it against her hard clit, tasting her. She’s divine, the sweetest thing I’ve ever had in my mouth.

“Asa,” she moans, her eyes drifting closed. “Your mouth is magic.”

“Glad you think so.” I grin against her pussy. “I intend to use it a whole fucking lot, gorgeous girl. Starting right now…” I tug her closer, spread her wide… and fucking feast.

Her breathless cries ring out around us, making my fucking cock ache. Christ, the things I want to do to her when she’s whimpering and moaning my name. I’ve been hard since I set eyes on her. Fucking her twice last night didn’t make my dick any softer. Eating her three times didn’t, either. She’s the sweetest addiction.

And, for some reason, she chose me. She wants me. She picked me.

Lucky doesn’t even begin to cover it.

I slip my tongue into her tight little hole, fucking her with it.

She pulls my hair, wailing my name as she shatters apart, coming all over my face. Fucking hell, a guy could get used to showering like this. I lick her through it, loving every little shiver and tremble that wracks her perfect body.

When the last one fades, I haul myself to my feet, pulling her into my arms to kiss the hell out of her.

“Now, you’re nice and dirty again,” I breathe against her lips.

She hums, melting against my chest and clinging to me. “Best shower ever,” she whispers.

I chuckle, holding her for a long moment. Christ, this is the best morning ever. Never thought I’d say that shit because I hate mornings. But this one? It’s fucking special. I woke up with her wrapped around me, my goddamn heart trying to beat out of my chest, feeling like this is the first day of the rest of my fucking life.

Corny? Fucking probably. Do I care? Hell no. It’s probably the truest shit I’ve ever felt. Whatever this is between us, it’s fast but it’s vast, too. She’s it for me. I just need to make sure I’m it for her, too. Attraction isn’t enough. Sex isn’t enough. I need her so in love with me she can’t imagine living her life without me by her side.

She wanted to date the bad boy. I hope she’s ready to marry him instead because I’m not giving up until I’ve got my ring on her finger and my baby in her belly.

“You hungry, gorgeous girl?” I murmur, rubbing my hand down her back.

“Starving.”

“Then let’s get you dressed and I’ll feed you.”

She lifts those pretty doe eyes to me, smiling. “What are you going to feed me?”

“I’m going to take you to my favorite diner and feed you my favorite breakfast.” I dip my head, brushing my lips against hers. “And then I’m going to bring you back here and have dessert.”

“You have breakfast dessert?”

“Uh, fuck yeah. I do if you’re on the menu.”

Her dimples pop out, her laughter echoing around the shower. “I like the way you think, Asa Steele.”

“What can I say? I’m a smart motherfucker.”

“Is it just me or is everyone staring at us?” Leslie whispers, glancing around the diner over two hours later. We had to swing by my place so I could change. Which resulted in me fucking her in my bed.

What? She said it looked soft. We had to test it out to see if she was right. Turns out, it’s a lot softer when she’s beneath me, screaming my name.

“Oh, they’re definitely staring,” I mutter, not even bothering to look up from our interlinked hands to check. I can feel their eyes on us. I also don’t give a fuck. “They’re probably wondering what a sweet girl like you is doing here with me. I bet they think I kidnapped you.”

She snorts laughter. “Should I write a note on a napkin and pass it to the waitress?”

“Depends.” I cock a brow at her. “You going to ask for a rescue or tell her to leave you in captivity?”

“Mm. I suppose I’ll stay in captivity if you let me order whatever I want off the menu.”

I grin, genuinely amused. “I get to keep you if I let you order whatever you want? That’s all it takes?”

“I’m a simple girl, Asa,” she says, shrugging. “Feed me, make me come, give me a little excitement, tell me sweet things, and I’m all yours.”

I cup her cheek, staring into those perfect eyes. “Baby, there ain’t nothing simple about you. You’re goddamn perfect.”

“For you,” she whispers.

“No.” I shake my head, my voice firm. “When I say you’re perfect, I mean you’re perfect from the top of your head to your oddly small feet.”

“My feet are not oddly small. Yours are just huge,” she scoffs. “You wear a size bajillion.”

“That is not what size I wear.”

“Close enough.”

“I want to kiss you right now.”

“What’s stopping you?” she asks, her eyes dropping to my lips.

“Mostly, the waitress standing behind you.”

She turns slowly, glancing over her shoulder at Letty, who grins at her, her wizened face alight with humor. “Don’t let me stop you, hon,” the elderly woman says. “If you want to kiss the big oaf, go for it.”

“Jesus Christ, Letty,” I complain. “It’s too early for you to start your bullshit.”

“Then don’t seat yourself in my section.” The old woman shrugs, smirking at me. And then she glances at Leslie. “How’d you end up with this idiot?”

“I won him at the county auction,” Leslie says without missing a beat. “He was the freshest meat on the block.”

Letty throws her head back, cackling loudly. “Oh, boy,” she says, looking at me. “You’re in trouble with this one.”

“I can see that,” I say, scrubbing a hand down my face. Jesus Christ. Why does her sass make me so fucking hard? She says the wildest shit in the sweetest voice, and I just want to tip her over backward and fuck the daylights out of her.

“It’s about time you met someone you weren’t capable of scaring off,” Letty says, whipping out her pen and notepad. “Someone needs to settle your ass down and give you babies before your swimmers stop swimming.”

“Jesus Christ, Letty,” I groan. “My swimmers swim just fine.”

“You’ll be shooting dust in a few years, boy,” she says, arching a brow at me. “You ain’t no spring chicken anymore. Don’t play with me.”

Leslie buries her face in my shoulder, giggling.

“You know what? I was going to name our first daughter Letty after my favorite waitress. Now, I think I’ll name her Rowan instead,” I say, shooting a pointed look at Letty. Rowan is her arch-nemesis in town. I don’t fucking know why. They’ve hated each other since they were in grade school fifty years ago.

Letty points her pen at me. “I’m going to be alone with your food all the way from the kitchen to this table, Asa Steele. Don’t play with me.” She turns a softer look on Leslie. “What can I get you, sweet girl? Your food is perfectly safe with me. I only threaten jackasses who should know better than to test old women.”

Leslie giggles again, straightening up to place her order. “Can I please have French toast, runny eggs, and three pieces of bacon?”

“You sure can.” Letty beams at her before scowling at me. “You want the usual?”

“Yep.”

She jerks her head in a nod before spinning on her heel and heading toward the back.

“That old lady is a terrorist,” I mutter, shaking my head.

“You like her,” Leslie says, her voice soft.

“Are you kidding? I love the hell out of her,” I say, laughing quietly. “She talks more shit than I do. I annoy the fuck out of everyone in town, but Letty gets me.”

Leslie laughs softly, tracing the tattoo on my forearm. “Everyone from around here loves you, even if you do cause your fair share of trouble, Asa. You keep them young.”

“Baby, I’ve run through the middle of this town buck naked just because I was bored,” I say, laughing quietly. “They’ve seen more of me than anyone should ever see. And they still show up whenever I need anything. I know how they feel about me.”

She blinks wide eyes at me. “You really did that?”

“Tequila may have been involved.”

She shakes her head, smiling. “You’re an odd man, Asa Steele.”

“Nah, I just do what the fuck I want. I’ve seen a lot of death in my life, gorgeous girl. And a lot of pain. I don’t want to spend my life watching it from the sidelines. I want to live it. When I die, I want to go out knowing I did every fucking thing I wanted to do and I did it my way. Why play by rules someone else set when I’m not hurting anyone? I’m not a bad man. I don’t hurt people. And I imagine I do as much good for this town as anyone else. I just raise a little hell while I do it.”

At the end of the day, I figure if that’s not enough, then fuck it. My parents did everything right. They still died young, leaving behind three kids and an oil company Aidan was barely old enough to run. I’m making different choices.

Clearly, I’m making the right ones because I’m here right now, with her sitting beside me, staring at me like I’m something special. If that’s not winning in life, I don’t know what the fuck is.

“You’re pretty incredible,” she whispers, her expression soft and sweet.

“You’re making it real fucking hard to behave right now,” I groan.

“Then maybe you shouldn’t behave. You never have a day in your life. Why start now?”

“Good point.” I cup her cheek, leaning in to kiss her. “You better get that captivity note ready, gorgeous girl. You’re going to need it after this. We’re going to set the whole goddamn town to talking when I practically fuck you over this table.”

“My word!”

Leslie goes rigid in my arms as a woman gasps in outrage from behind us. She turns slowly, her eyes widening and her face going pale.

“Mama,” she whispers. “What are you doing here?”

Ah, fuck.

I turn just as slowly as she did, my balls damn near crawling back inside my body when I set eyes on the middle-aged woman scowling daggers at us, her hands planted on her hips, her face pinched with annoyance. She looks just enough like Leslie for there to be no mistaking that they’re family.

“I could ask you the same thing, young lady,” Gloria Langley says, her voice tight. “You were supposed to be at the dealership an hour ago for a meeting.”

Leslie gasps, her eyes flying open wide. “That was this morning? Oh, no! I completely forgot.”

“I can see that.” Her mother cuts her eyes in my direction. “You were too busy gallivanting around with Mr. Steele.”

“Mama, don’t be like that,” Leslie says, her voice soft. Strained. She seems tense in a way she hasn’t since I met her, almost… exhausted. Fuck. Is this how her mother always treats her? Like she’s a recalcitrant child who has done something wrong?

“I’m not being like anything. I just didn’t expect to find my daughter having explicit conversations in a diner.” Her mouth presses into a disapproving line. “I expected her to be at work on time.”

“I’m sorry,” Leslie cries softly. “I forgot! It’s not the end of the world.”

“It’s my fault, Mrs. Langley,” I say, stepping in to try to smooth this over as everyone in the damn diner goes silent, turning to watch the show. “Leslie doesn’t have her car, and I convinced her to stop for breakfast before I take her to get it.”

Gloria’s gaze lands on me like the crack of a whip. “Why doesn’t she have her car?”

Fuck. I didn’t think this through at all. If I tell her that her daughter left her car at the arena last night because I drove her home and spent the night with her, I’m liable to make this situation a lot worse than it already is. This woman clearly doesn’t like me much right now. Hearing me threaten to fuck her daughter over the table in a diner full of people probably has her ready to strangle me, as a matter of fact.

“I left it at the arena last night,” Leslie says.

Gloria shifts her gaze from me to her daughter, something a lot like worry floating through her eyes. “Leslie, darling,” she sighs. “This isn’t like you. You don’t?—”

“I know it isn’t,” Leslie interrupts. “But this is what I want, Mama. Can’t that be enough for you? It isn’t his fault I forgot the meeting. It’s mine. I’m sorry I disappointed you. I’m sorry I’m not perfect. I’m just sorry, okay?”

“You are perfect,” I growl, cupping her cheek as tears fill her eyes. No one–not even her mother–gets to make her feel anything less than that. Hell no. Fuck that. Not today or any other day. “You’re the most incredible woman I’ve ever met, gorgeous girl. You’re allowed to make mistakes. You’re allowed to forget. And no one is allowed to make you cry for being who you are and chasing after what you want. Especially not in public.”

I cut my eyes in her mother’s direction, daring her to gainsay me. But she just stares at me with wide eyes, not saying a word. Good.

“Come on, baby.” I slide from the booth, holding out my hand to Leslie. “I’ll get you home so you can do what you need to do. We can have breakfast another day.”

Her bottom lip quivers. “I really wanted my French toast.”

“I’ve got it right here,” Letty says, swooping in with our breakfast wrapped up and ready to go. The woman is a goddess. Seriously. She shoves everything into my hands, shooting me a sympathetic look.

“Thank you,” I mouth, wrapping my arm around Leslie’s shoulders.

“Leslie, darling, I…” Her mother stares at her, guilt and remorse stamped all over her face. But whatever she wants to say to her daughter isn’t going to be said in front of a diner full of people. She’s said enough in front of them. If she wants to continue this conversation, she can do it in private. After Leslie has time to regroup.

That’s what she needs right now. Actually, I think what she needs is an honest conversation with her parents about who she really is and what she really wants. Because I have a feeling that isn’t something she’s ever really done. She’s always been the good girl they expected her to be instead of living the life she wanted to live. She’s sacrificed her own happiness for their comfort.

And judging by the look on Gloria’s face as I shuffle Leslie out of the diner, she’s realizing it, too. I can’t decide for Leslie what she wants, but I know what I want.

Her. My fucking heart is hers. I need her to choose me, too. And I don’t think she can fully do that until she breaks free of the good girl persona she’s chained herself into and gives herself the freedom to really be who she’s meant to be.

Not mine, not her parents. But her own beautiful, courageous self.